A closer look
Merchants during the Tang dynasty in ancient China grew so exhausted by carrying incredibly heavy strings of copper coins over long trade routes that they invented the world's first paper money, famously dubbed flying cash. Originally acting strictly as promissory notes rather than fiat currency, the system was fully nationalized by later imperial dynasties who quickly discovered the magical government ability to print unlimited amounts of paper whenever they were running low on actual wealth. Unsurprisingly, this brilliant innovation immediately resulted in the world's first catastrophic hyperinflation crisis, eventually forcing the Ming dynasty to completely abandon paper money for several centuries. It is comforting to know that governments have been making the exact same idiotic monetary policy mistakes for nearly a millennium, proving that economic incompetence is a deeply ingrained human tradition
